By Jorge Casuso

March 4, 2025 -- Santa Monica rents rose for the second straight month in February, a trend that could be fueled in part by the wildfires that ravished the Los Angeles region, according to Apartment List's monthly report.

Apartment List researchers saw rent increases in cities close to the Palisades and Eaton fires, with rents rising by 3 percent in Santa Monica since the start of the year and 2 percent in Burbank, Glendale and Pasadena.

In the City of LA, rents increased 0.7 percent in February, "a jump that is in line with seasonal expectations but more than double the rate of the national trend," according to this month's report.

While rent gouging is prohibited during the wildfire emergency, the report notes that "with that cap set at 10 percent, the fires could still have a meaningful impact on rent prices in a market where metro-wide rent growth had previously been essentially flat."

City staff told the Council at the February 25 meeting that the City has "sent a few cease and desist letters for possible price gouging for rents."

Santa Monica's fast start his year reverses a trend that saw rents drop by 1.5 percent in 2024, which recorded only three monthly increases, according to listings on the popular rental site.

The overall median rent in Santa Monica currently stands at $2,527 a month, with the median rent for a one-bedroom at $2,392 and a two-bedroom going for $2,867.

Santa Monica rents have risen 2.9 percent year-over-year, outpacing the 1.6 percent increase for the State and -0.4 percent drop nationwide, according to the data.

Local rents are now 15.4 percent higher than the Los Angeles metro region, which includes the 23 cities in Los Angeles and Orange counties included in the Apartment List database.

Newport Beach continues to be the most expensive city, with a median rent of $3,272, while Long Beach is the area's least expensive city with a median rent of $1,729.

The metro's fastest annual rent growth is taking place in Pomona, where rents rose 4.9 percent over the past year, while the slowest is in in Long Beach, where rents dropped -2.3 percent.

On the national level, rents "flipped back to positive month-over-month rent growth, increasing by 0.3 percent in February following six straight monthly declines," according to the monthly report.

The rise reflects seasonal trends that see rents "bounce back in the new year, gradually ramping up to peak season activity in the late spring and early summer."

The vacancy rates for multi-family buildings hit 6.9 percent, the highest rate since Apartment List began tracking vacancies during the start of 2017.

"The rising vacancy rate in recent years is largely attributable to an influx of new multifamily inventory hitting the market," according to the report.

Apartment List said it is "keeping a close eye" on rental markets across Southern California "amid growing concern about the future of affordable housing in the region."

"As rental markets are expected to get more expensive in the coming months (independent of the fires), we will monitor whether or not increases are exceeding typical seasonal patterns," researchers wrote.

The report -- based on the site's millions of listings -- "aims to identify transacted rent prices, as opposed to the listed rent prices." For the report click here